BLOBBY
PAUL RAYMOND
July – October 2023
Paul Raymond is an artist & arts educator based in the North East of England. He is a studio holder at The Newbridge Project in Newcastle and a member of the North East Artist Teacher & Educator Network.
Paul creates his artwork using a variety of media ranging from drawing, collage and sculpture, to animation, installation and performance. He explores themes of nostalgia, haunting, temporality, play and regression through his artwork, and often employs an experimental approach to making and learning.
BLOBBY is inspired by the derogatory term, ‘The Blob’, popularised in politics by Michael Gove during his role as Secretary of State for Education from 2010 to 2014. Gove used this term (based on the 1958 sci-fi horror film) to deride academics, teachers and teaching unions who stood in the way of his regressive teaching reforms; labelling anyone who opposed him as being part of ‘The Blob’.
Paul is interested in harnessing the powerful and chaotic force of ‘The Blob’ as a way of counteracting the rigid systems in which we are forced to operate.
To create the installation, Paul has made paper cut-outs using photographic prints of his sculptural and digital artworks, alongside AI generated images. The work exists somewhere in between real and illusory space, like a half-remembered nostalgic nightmare – akin to a horror film or a children’s TV show set. The work reflects a society (and an educational system) haunted by the past and arguably obsessed with repetition, pastiche and infantilisation.
Paul has expanded upon methodologies used during his Freelands Foundation MAKE residency in 2021; allowing his interactions with materials to shape and develop ideas.
For more information about Paul’s work see